preparation Archives - Lauren Sergy

How Much Time Should you Spend on your Presentation?

Content creation, Creating, Discipline, ProductivityBy Lauren Sergy July 5, 2018

How much time should I spend on my presentations? This is the wrong question to ask. A better question to start with would be “What kind of presentation do I need to give? Is this a utility presentation, one I’ve give loads of time and am already familiar with? Or am I creating…

Your secret weapon: Power up!

Confidence, Performance, TacticsBy Lauren Sergy January 20, 2017

Bet you thought I’d be going over the presidential inauguration speeches, eh? Not today! I’ll do a post about it later, as there was some interesting stuff going on. I was live tweeting during the inauguration, though – click here to see my in-the-moment thoughts regarding the rhetoric. Check my tweets from January 20th. Communication…

6 Things You Must Do the Night Before Your Presentation

Presenting, TacticsBy Lauren Sergy October 5, 2016

It’s the night before your big talk. You’ve crafted your presentation, practiced it, and are ready to deliver it at tomorrow’s event. You’re nerves are jangling a bit, for better or worse, and the bulk of the heavy lifting is done – the only thing left to do is give the talk itself. Or…

What’s the worst that could happen?

Confidence, TacticsBy Lauren Sergy March 30, 2016

Have you heard the advice that you should only picture a positive outcome for your talk? That you should only visualize a successful speech in which everything goes according to plan, you breeze through your material, and the audience is lavish in their praise and applause? I have. I’ve heard this bit of advice come…

Shiny Topic Syndrome

Content creation, DisciplineBy Lauren Sergy June 29, 2015

“Well, yes, the talk was rough. I needed all those notes, and I had to read from them because I thought of a much better thing to talk about at the last minute and changed the whole presentation. I didn’t have time to practice the new material.” No, no, no, no, NO! Naughty speaker!…

The length of the speech doesn’t always matter

Content creationBy Lauren Sergy November 17, 2014

Time doesn’t matter when it comes to public speaking. Five minutes or fifty, the act of creating and polishing a presentation is remarkably similar, both in time and energy. There is false security in the statement “It’s just a five minute speech.” A five minute speech can be as difficult to craft as an hour…

Making cold calls red hot

ConnectingBy Lauren Sergy February 14, 2014

The term ‘cold calling’ strikes fear into the hearts of many a professional. Heaven’s knows it does to me. Cold calling, though, has its place. Actually, it can be a very useful activity for both the caller and the receiver. It can save time and energy, create new connections and opportunity, and grow your network.…

Tag Archives: preparation